Finding Home
by buffy4angel73
Summary: AU Angel is a PI and has been searching for his runaway fiance for years, what happenes when it turns out she is his new 'client'. Can he save her daughter, will he find out why she left him? What is the secret she hides that is keeping them appart?
1. Chapter 1

_11am_

"Xander, what are we going to do? " Asked Willow worriedly while rinsing out the coffee cups, "She won't eat, she won't sleep. I'm really worried about her."

"I know Will but can you blame her? If anything happened to Tommy I would be the same." A chill ran down Xander's spine at the thought of this happening to his own son.

"Yeah but she needs to be ok for when they bring Molly home. It's been two days. She'll be no good if she let's herself get sick."

The friends stood looking at each other across the small yet modern kitchen. This was normally a very warm and friendly room that the friends had all spent a large amount of time in over the last few years, sharing a meal, joking and just spending time with each other but today…today it just felt cold and unwelcoming.

"So what time does Faith get in?" asked Xander to his worried friend.

"They'll get to LA about lunchtime. It was the first flight back that they could get."

"Good if anyone can get though to the cops it's her." Stated Xander.

"What if no one believes her Xander? What if Beth-Anne's right and this guy has Molly and they never go after him?"

"Sooner or later they will work it out. I'd prefer it to be sooner, but he is one of them. They apparently don't believe he could do anything like that."

"I know, I know. Did you see how angry that detective got when Beth-Anne even mentioned that they might look at him. If only they would just check him out." Xander sighed. It had been hard enough for both them to wrap their heads around some of what Beth-Anne had told them, but having seen the look in her eyes and the terror that lay there, they believed her. They had come to the realization that there was a whole lot more to this story than what they now knew.

"Well all we can do is look after Beth. Once Faith gets back she may have more luck convincing the police. I think she knows more about this than what we do."

_1pm_

Ring. Ring.

Picking up the landline phone she said, "Hello?"

"Hi Will, it's Faith. Any news?"

"No the police still seem to have no leads into where Molly maybe or what may have happened to her."

"How's B holding up?"

Willow sighed and rubbed her temples. "She not. Which I know is to be expected but she won't eat or sleep. She sat up all night looking out that window. We can barely get two words out of her. Something better turn up soon."

"It will, it will" Faith said a silent prayer that that would be true. "We will be back in a couple of hours. Charlie has arranged for his boss and some co-workers to come back with us. This is what they do – help people find missing relatives."

"He works for a P. I. right?"

"Yeah Angel Investigations. His boss Liam and two of the guys he works with Doyle and Wesley are bringing us back. They may be able to find something the police are missing."

"Yeah and I think we both know what that is."

Later

"Beth-Anne? Hey how are you doing?" asked a concerned Willow in a slow and steady breath not wanting to startle her friend. Beth-Anne sat on the window seat just staring. "That was Faith on the phone. She will be back in a couple of hours. She is also bringing Charlie's colleagues back with her. They are private detectives and they will help us find her." Beth-Anne continued to stare straight ahead. Willow wasn't even sure she heard a word she had said. "Look here is a cup of tea and a sandwich, please try and eat something." Willow pleaded with her friend.

Beth turned to her friend just seeming to notice her for the first time. Willow noted the dark rings under her eyes and the sadness in them.

All of a sudden her eyes opened and she looked at Willow and said, "Delta? Where's Delta?" Beth-Anne then jumped up in a panic and began to look around the room with fear in her eyes and her body trembling. "Oh my god where is she?"

Willow ran to her and wrapped her arms around her dear friend. "It's ok. She's over a Xander and Anya's playing with Tommy. She's fine." she explained leading her friend back to the lounge to sit down.

"Willow?" Beth-Anne asked, actually looking up at Willow and acknowledging her presence for the first time today.

"Yes Beth?"

"They will find her won't they? They will get my baby back from him, right?"

"She'll be fine. We'll have her home soon. Don't you worry. Now here eat up."

"Thanks." Beth replied despondently. She sat back in the lounge, pulled her knees up to her chest, turned her face to the window and went back to staring out it and ignored the tea and sandwich.

_4pm_

Faith and the LA gang arrive at Beth-Anne's house.

"You go in and catch up with your friend while we grab some gear. We'll be in in a minute." Said Liam, turning to look at his good friend and colleague, Gunn's, girlfriend. She seemed really freaked out, she had hardly sad still in the drive up here. Her and Charles had been away on a holiday when her friend's daughter was kidnapped. Liam, Doyle and Wes had offered to come back and help to try and find the little girl.

Faith hadn't told them a great deal. She outlined that Beth-Anne was 28, had two daughters Delta who was 6 and Molly who was 3. Her husband had died before Molly was born, that was when she had moved to Sunnydale. Faith felt bad not telling them the whole story but it wasn't hers to tell. Once she saw B and she said it was ok she would tell the boys the truth.

"OK guys thanks."

Liam knew she wasn't telling him the truth, or at least he suspected she wasn't. It wasn't her words but the fact that she couldn't look directly at any of them while she told the story of Beth-Anne's life.

He climbed out of the car slowly. Sitting for too long in the one spot still didn't help his leg much. Five people in the car didn't give his tall frame much room to move.

He went to the trunk to get out his bag. Until either the police or they found anything they would always have one person at the house. He'd bring in his bag now save time later. The others were carrying in all their equipment.

"Hey man, ready?" called Charles Gunn as they were all ready to head into the small house.

"Yep."

Inside

"B?" Faith said sitting next to her friend on the window seat. Faith's heart went out to her friend. She had already been through so much. Molly and Delta were her life.

Beth-Anne turned around and focused on her friend. "Oh god Faith, what if something bad has happened to her. I've already lost …I can't lose her too."

"You're not going to B. We'll get Molly back. We bought Charlie's boss and two other guys he works with – they are private investigators specializing in missing people. They'll help us find her. Don't worry B."

"Faith what if he found us? What if he has her?" Beth-Anne's voice started to crack as she asked this of her best friend. She had been holding on for so long. She hadn't cried and she couldn't because if she gave into her tears it would mean that this was real and it couldn't be right?

"It's ok B? We need to tell these guys the full story though. They can't help without knowing everything."

Beth looked up with terror in her eyes. Having to tell the story, even after all this time was still very hard, though she knew Faith was right. She had to trust these people to get her baby girl back. She put her head into her hands and began to shake.

Liam, Doyle, Wesley and Charles entered the lounge room.

"B, this is Liam, Doyle, Wesley and Charlie."

"Mrs…" Liam started but realised he didn't know this young woman's last name. He looked to Faith with the question.

"Beth-Anne O'Connor."

"Mrs O'Connor, I .." Liam began.

At the sound of that voice Beth-Anne's head snapped up and emerald green eyes meet chocolate brown ones.

"Angel?" She said barely above a whisper.

"Buffy?" he asked bewildered. Could it possible be her after all this time? She had brown hair now but god it was her.

She stood up and took as step towards him, slowly reaching her hand out towards him, then her body gave out. Having not eaten or slept in two days and the stress of her child being kidnapped was too much for her already frail body. Just as she fainted Liam caught her and moved them towards the lounge sitting with her in his lap.

"B?"

"Beth?"

"Beth-Anne?" Everyone was speaking at once.

Liam took her face into her his hands. "Buffy, baby wake up. Can you hear me? Please baby wake up."


	2. Chapter 2

All eyes in the room were looking at the couple on the lounge. Faith, not having heard what Beth-Anne whispered before she fainted, was worried how this guy Liam knew who she really was and whether that was a good thing. Faith had only meet him once and that was in LA. None of Charlie's friends had met her friends yet. Part of her wanted to tell him to leave her friend alone, to rush over to the lounge and pull her out of his arms but the way he held her so lovingly and the way Beth-Anne's body seemed to curl into his even though she was unconscious. She was seeking comfort from him.

Xander and Willow were looking bewildered at each other and both asked "Buffy? Who's Buffy?"

Wes, Gunn and Doyle were all in shock. Gunn had heard all about Buffy from Liam. It was how they had met and eventually started an agency together. Liam had been searching for Buffy but in the last four years they had not been able to find anything on her whereabouts. She had seemed to disappear into thin air. In their line of business that was unfortunately how it worked out sometimes, especially if the person in question didn't want to be found.

"Get a doctor." Liam barked at no one in particular when he got no response out of the young mother.

"I'll call Dr Giles to come." Said Willow.

"Where's Dawn?" asked Liam.

Willow and Xander looked at each other then back to Liam. "Who's Dawn?" they asked in unison.

"Buffy's sister!" Liam said again to no one in particular. He kept Buffy/Beth-Anne cradled in his lap. His hand held gently to the side of her face. He couldn't take his eyes off her. It was a miracle he had found her and he would do whatever it took to make it right.

"Beth-Anne doesn't have a sis…" started Willow till Faith cut her off.

"She's at Xander's. She's fine."

"What the hell is going on here?" yelled Xander. Moving closer to the lounge where Liam and his friend Beth sat. He wasn't sure whether to try and remove his friend from this large growly man or not. This was a man Faith had asked to come and help in their situation so why was he holding her so lovingly yet possessively in his lap. None of this was making any sense.

"Let's just get B taken care of then we will fill you all in." said this while looking at Willow and Xander in particular. Looks like she would have to tell B's story to the room now whether or not she wanted to. If B's hunch was correct then these guys needed all the information they could to bring Molly home.

Liam continued to rock Buffy/Beth-Anne in his lap speaking quietly to her for the time it took for the doctor to arrive. He was amazed at how different she looked but at the same time he could still see his girl was there.

"Hello Willow," said Dr Giles letting himself in the front door. "How is she?"

"Still out to it. Giles she hasn't slept or eaten since early yesterday. That combined with everything else I think….well….I think it seems to have taken its toll on her." Willow said shakily to the elderly gentleman. Dr Giles put his arm around Willow's shoulders as a sign of comfort but didn't give her any false platitudes.

"Bring Beth into the bedroom so I can take a look at her please." Instructed Dr Giles to the large dark haired man that was sitting on the lounge with Beth-Anne tucked into his arms so protectively. Dr Giles, or Giles as he had gotten used to being known as since Beth had started working for him as his receptionist when she first moved to town, had never seen or heard her speak of a man or boyfriend so was very curious as to who this young man holding her was.

Liam stood carrying Buffy/Beth-Anne and followed Willow, Faith and Dr Giles into what must have been her bedroom.

Dr Giles motioned for everyone to leave but Liam refused. Faith got him to leave Buffy/Beth-Anne alone with the doctor and join the others in the sitting room.

"Maybe she should go to the hospital?" Asked Doyle to the group.

"No," said Liam, "she hates hospitals."

"Liam man, if it's for the best. Let's just wait to see what the doctor says." said Charles, pulling his girlfriend into his arms and hugging her tightly.

"Are you sure this is Buffy?" inquired Wesley quietly, he had not really seen the face of the young mother before she passed out. He remembered back to when he had first met the young woman quite a few Christmas's ago now and sighed at what his friend and brother-in-law had been through since then.

Liam glared at Wesley. "Of course I'm sure. She used to have blonde hair but that is the only difference."

"Plus Faith didn't seem surprised when he called her Buffy. Did you Faith?" interjected Charles.

"She's Buffy. There is a lot you guys don't know," looking specifically at Willow and Xander, "and that needs to be sorted. As soon as we know how she is I will fill you all in."

Dr Giles walked out of the bedroom. Liam pounced on him. "How is she?" He asked quickly.

"She's exhausted and dehydrated. She should really be in hospital but with everything going on with Molly and the fact we all know she how much she hates hospitals, she'd kill us. Anyway I have put her on a saline drip to help re-hydrate her. Let her rest. That is the best thing for her now."

"Thanks Doctor." They all said.

"Any news on Molly?" Asked Giles hopefully to Faith, he had delivered Molly, and maybe because he had never gotten to have a family of his own he considered them to be like grandchildren and they seemed to love him also.

"No Doc." said Faith solemnly.

"I'll be back later tonight to check on her, I can't stay I'm afraid as I have appointments all day. She can remove the drip once she wakes up as long as it is all but empty. I'll see you all later." Dr Giles took his leave.

As they were all saying their goodbyes to the good doctor Angel slipped back into the bedroom to check on her.

He walked over to her bed and knelt down beside it taking Buffy's hand in his. "Sleep baby, we need you to be alright. Now that I have found you again I am not going to let anything happen to you." He bent over and placed a kiss on her forehead, then left the room.

He walked back into the sitting room where all the others were now waiting for him.

"Now do you mind telling us what the hell is going on?" asked Xander.

Angel sat on the only vacant armchair. Lent forward with his elbows on his knees and ran his fingers though his hair. He began the story of how he had meet the only woman he had ever loved and how he had somehow ruined it.


	3. Chapter 3

5 Years Earlier

Buffy struggled up the last of the stairs to their apartment. They lived in a five storey walk up on the fourth floor, what she wouldn't give for an elevator in the building some days. She sighed to herself and thought; hopefully he wouldn't be home till late tonight. She knew he was due to finish his shift at 6pm but he might go out with the boys. It's not like he'd bother to ring and tell her. Luckily she was home in time to get his dinner ready in case he did. Thankfully he had put up his roster on the fridge so she could work out when she needed to be home. She prayed he would stay out late, she had so much homework to do. It was her second year at College and she was barely scraping by. It wasn't that she was a bad student just that she really didn't get enough time to study.

Stepping out of the stairwell and into the hallway she started to drop the armload of books she was carrying. She tried to juggle them so that she wouldn't drop them, she was only twenty feet from her door.

"Oh no!" said Buffy to herself as she proceeded to drop most of the armful. She bent and started picking them up when she heard someone. She closed her eyes really tight and prayed 'Oh please god, don't let it be him home early.'

She heard the someone in question stop right in front of her and bend down, as she looked up she looked directly into a pair of chocolate brown eyes.

"Buffy, right?" asked the man.

"Um..Yeah." She replied not able to take her eyes away from his. She'd seem him over the last week, well you couldn't miss him really. He had dark spiked hair and a strong jaw line, was had been dressed in dark t-shirt, jeans and boots. The t-shirt showed off his well muscled chest and arms and the jeans nicely encased his rear. She had found it very hard not to look at him when she had passed him in the hallway. He had just moved in across from them. "Um…Sorry I don't know your name." Buffy said as he helped her pick up the rest of the fallen books.

"Liam O'Conner, but all my friends call me Angel." He told the petite blonde. He had spotted her as soon as he had moved in to the apartment building but soon found out that she lived with her boyfriend. It was a shame as she was beautiful. Her long blonde hair and slight build was very much to his liking, he had felt a very physical response the first time he had seen her, even though she had been wearing lose slacks and sweater it was still obvious she had a lovely figure. She wasn't the usual type of girl that he was attracted to. He preferred tall dark haired women with legs that went forever but something about this tiny blonde made him tingle at the thought of her. He would have liked to have gotten to know her better. He had never fantasized about other man's girlfriend but for whatever reason he had been unable to get her out of his mind.

"Well Liam it's nice to meet you. I heard that we had a new neighbor. Welcome to the," she paused looking around the hallway, "building I suppose" she said shyly.

"Thanks Buffy. So what are you studying?"

"Huh?" Buffy asked not quite able to concentrate on what he was saying now she had looked back into those eyes.

"Books? I presume you are studying."

"Oh yeah sorry. I'm in my second year at college I'm studying teaching."

"Well that must be interesting."

By this stage they had moved to stand in front of her door. She was nervously getting the key out of her pocket as Liam was holding a majority of the books for her. She was in a hurry to get inside. If he came home and caught her talking to their very handsome neighbor she would be in trouble, to say the least. With this paper due at the end of the week she couldn't afford any down time.

"Well thanks for helping me with the books. I'd best go." She said taking them from him but not making eye contact with him anymore. Her eyes kept darting down the hallway as if to check whether anyone was watching.

She knew he wasn't due home for another hour but it would be just her luck to get caught.

"It was nice to meet you Buffy. I hope I'll see you around." With this she simply nodded goodbye and slipped into the apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Hi Guys hope you are enjoying this fiction. I have had it partially written for a number of years and figured if I started posting it I would have to finish it. Let me know what you all think. If it is no good I will not bother finishing it. Please send feedback.

Over the next couple of weeks they only saw each other occasionally in the hallway. Liam always stopping for a chat but Buffy was always in a hurry to get away from him. She was polite but never made eye contact with him.

One night when he had gotten home rather late from work and although the season's had moved to autumn, which usually cooled a hot and humid LA down, this evening his apartment was hot and stuffy. He decided to grab a beer and head up to the roof for a while. Grabbing a couple of beers and placing them in a bucket with some ice, he headed to the roof.

When he walked out of the stairwell onto the roof he could see a light behind a dividing barrier someone had set up on the roof. He walked around it and saw Buffy sitting at a table with a battery operated light studying. He'd seen the table last time he came up and there was evidence that some of the tenants frequented the roof-top but no-one had ever been up there while he was before.

"Hi Buffy" he said opening one of the beers and taking a long cool swig of his beer. He indicated whether it was ok for him to sit at the table also.

"Oh, um …hi Liam" Buffy said quite shyly while nodding her ok at his request. She had passed him in the hallway a couple of times since he had helped her with her books but she had just mumbled a hello and tried to keep going.

He really unnerved her. He was extremely good looking and seemed to be quite sweet. He never ignored her, always polite but he was always watching her. Which deep down she quite liked but knew she had to stop having those kinds of thoughts. She was living with someone else and if he ever found out or even suspected that she was even thinking about another man then she would pay dearly.

"Would you like a beer? They're only light but nice and cool." He indicated the bucket in hand.

"Um….no thanks. I um don't drink and I'm plus only 19."

"Oh Sorry, do you mind if I?" he held up the beer.

"No your right."

"So do you often do your homework on the roof?" he asked her indicating the books spread out on the small table.

"Um…yeah…..occasionally, it's um quiet up here. I can get a lot of work done." She said looking away again.

"I have to say you seem dedicated. My sister is in her first year at UCLA and I think she may be majoring in boys or parties or something." He chuckled trying to picture Cordy up on the roof with a lantern so she could study.

They continued to talk about college and his sister. Buffy started to feel quite relaxed in his company now. He was easy to listen to and he made her laugh. He had the ability to tell a good story and read people quite well.

It was strange for him to sit there with a beautiful woman and do most of the talking. Normally he was quite happy to sit back and let the other person do all the talking but with Buffy he realized she wasn't like that. He had to ask her questions to hopefully slowly get her to open up to him and by keeping the conversion light he seemed to be succeeding.

About half an hour later Buffy asked, "So what do you do Liam?"

"Sorry Buffy I thought you knew."

"Why would I?"

"Well I work in the same precinct as Parker."

Oh god Buffy hadn't even thought about him in the last half hour. If he caught her up here with Liam he wouldn't be happy to say the least.

Liam noticed her eyes go wide and her whole body go rigid at the mention of her boyfriend's name.

"You um….you um work with Parker?" She asked not looking at him again.

"Not really. I'm a detective."

"Oh." Buffy stood quickly and began to pack up her books. "I um I um have to go." Buffy turned off the lantern and hid it back in the small shed. Picking up her book bag she moved around the barrier and toward the door, just before opening it she turned back to Angel.

When she had stood up so quickly so had he and now he followed her around the barrier, it was still quite bright due to the LA lights so that he could still see her reasonably well.

"Um bye Liam." She turned and lifted her head, looked at him for a few seconds and then turned back and went into the stairwell.

Liam sat back down and tried to work out what just happened. Why did she run at the mention of Parker's name? He sat and drank the rest of his been and realized there was a whole lot more to Buffy, and that he wanted to find it all out.


	5. Chapter 5

Meeting on the roof became a regular get together for Angel and Buffy. After work he would head up there. If she was there they would talk for a while. She didn't talk about herself much but she did contribute to the conversation with the odd college lecture story. She never mentioned Parker or any friends.

He told her about his life, family and friends. She had been quite astonished to find he was from such a huge family and loved it.

He had an older sister Darla who was 36 she was married to Lindsay who was 10 years her junior. Lindsay was an entertainer and Darla was a stay at home mom. They had two children, Holland and Drusilla.

Next there was Lorne who was 32. He was married to a girl named Winifred but she went by just Fred and they had three children Billy, Eve and Lily. Lorne was in Public Relations and Fred was a scientist.

Next was Lila who was 29, she was married to Wesley, they were both lawyers and they had no children at this stage.

Then came Liam who was 25 and then lastly was Cordelia who was 18 and at college.

Eventually she opened up and he learnt that she had a little sister Dawn who was nearly two. Her mom and dad had gotten divorced when she was little and for a long time it was just the two of them. Her dad came back when she was sixteen her mom had gotten pregnant. Buffy and her dad didn't get along so she had moved out of the house and that's how she had moved in here (she never mentioned Parker's name).

Liam also noticed that Buffy was always covered up. Even when the nights were still quite warm she still wore a long sleeved shirt and either pants or a long skirt.

This night was like the others. Buffy was still all covered up with long sleeve blouse and ankle length skirt. It was getting late, so she packed up her books.

"I'd better go. He'll be home soon." Said Buffy, as she stood, she yelped in pain and sat back down quickly.

Angel was up and was around at her side almost immediately. "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing really…..just my leg…..the calf…..a cramp" she grimaced.

Angel bent down in front of her and took the leg she was favouring in his hands. He slid his hand from her ankle up to her calf and began to firmly massage trying to work out the cramp.

Buffy's breath caught in her throat at the first contact of his skin on hers. As he massaged her calf muscle she started to totally relax. Her head lounged back and a soft moan came from her lips.

At the sound of that Angel was encouraged on. He slipped off her shoe and lifted the same foot into his lap, as he was kneeling in front of her, and began massaging her foot. Buffy moaned again. This was nearly Angel's undoing. All the times he had met her on the roof he had to control himself from touching her. Some days if she looked sad he just wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her, other days there was more physical contact he dreamed of.

As he continued to massage her foot and leg it was too much for Buffy. She had only ever been with Parker in a physical sense and his touch was nothing compared to Angel's. She never reacted like this to Parker. She had always thought that she was someone who just wasn't excited by a man's touch and now it seems that it just may have been that the one who was normally touching her was the wrong guy.

"Oh Angel. That feels so good." Buffy moaned softly using his nickname for the first time. His hands were so gentle but firm. Her skin tingled where he touched and caressed her.

Angel's hands moved up to the back of her knee but this startled Buffy and her hand shot out and knocked the lamp off the table and it smashed as it hit the ground, effectively turning the light off.

Angel and Buffy both stood at the crashing sound. Just as Angel was about to reach out and pull Buffy towards him they heard the stairwell door bang open and a booming voice yell "Buffy where the hell are you?"

"Oh god it's Parker. If he….if he finds me with you…Oh god no. Quick….hide." Buffy pleaded very quietly with Angel.

"No Buf.." But he was cut off by her quiet pleading.

"Angel please. If he catches me he'll…he'll…Just hide and stay away. Please." She grabbed her book bag and moved around the table to where Parker could see her.

"Buffy?" he asked trying to make her out in the dark.

"Yeah. Hi. What are you doing up here?" She nervously asked.

"I got home and you weren't there. I thought I'd see what you do up here," He was looking around to see if he could see anyone else here, "or should I say who?" he sneered at her.

'Please don't let him see Angel' Buffy begged silently. "What do you mean Parker? I just come up here to study, you know that. No-one else is here. Come on," she said moving close to him and placing her hand on his arm. "Let's go down to the apartment." She started to steer him towards the door.

"You're not lying to me, are you Buffy? You know how I get when you tell me lies."

"No..um no Parker. I promise. Please believe me."

Parker grabbed Buffy by the upper arms, hard, and shoved her back against the door. "You better not be. I came home early to make up for last night and now I find you up here."

Angel went to step out of the shadow when he saw Buffy raise her hand at Parkers side indicating for him to stay. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't like the way Parker was man handling or talking to Buffy but then what if he made it worse. He realized now that he had to get her out of that apartment and away from Parker.

Parker pulled her back from the closed door, opened it and pushed her toward the stairs. "Time we went home so I can teach you how a good girlfriend acts."

Buffy dropped her bag but Parker wouldn't let her stop and pick it up.

Angel just stood there in the shadow's for a long time after they had gone. 'My god what had happened?' He had known that something was not right with Buffy and Parker but he had not really suspected he was abusing her, well not physically. Great detective he was.

He was furious. Not only could he not comprehend how a man could physically hurt a woman but Parker was a cop. He was supposed 'serve and protect' and to put assholes like himself in jail.

Also this was his Buffy. Parker obviously had no idea just how wonderful she was. What the hell was he going to do to help her?

After passing back and forth atop of the roof he eventually walked over and picked up her book bag. He sneak back down to his apartment without Parker hearing or seeing him. Best not to aggravate the situation anymore tonight, but he made a silent promise to Buffy that he would help her out.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Next Day**

Angel called work the next day to say due to a 'family situation' he wouldn't be in today. He needed to talk to Buffy. He had her books and knew she would come over as soon as it was safe.

He couldn't sleep last night so had just gotten up early and had been pacing around his living room for most of the morning. He was trying to work out a way to help Buffy. He was anxious for her to come over so he could see that she was alright.

Just after 11am there was a soft knock on the door. Angel quickly opened it and ushered her inside. He then turned her around to look at him. She had a split lip and bruised cheek. He could see that she had tried to hide it with makeup but had not done a great job.

"Oh my god Buffy, what did he do to you?" placing a hand on the side of her face so gently and then he pulled towards him, so he could hug her, but heard her wince in pain when he placed a hand on her back. "Buffy?" he asked worriedly

"It's Ok Liam. I'm fine. I just came for my books please." She was refusing to make eye contact with him again.

"Buffy, please, talk to me. I know what he did to.." He was cut off by Buffy.

"You do not know anything about me so just give me my book bag so I can go to school." She took a step back from him and lifted her gaze to his. Arms folded over her battered body.

"Buffy…baby listen to me please….what he is doing is wrong." He calmly tried to explain to her. "You need to get out of that relationship and out of the apartment." On the outside he was trying to project that he was calm but on the inside his stomach was churning.

"What and move in with you I suppose?" She snarled at him venomously.

"I won't deny I have strong feelings for you but while you are always welcome in my home, not in here necessarily, no. What about back to your parents? If they knew what he was…"

"No" she said cutting him off again, "My mom thinks he is a really nice guy and that he is good for me." She paused and drew in a deep breath, "Plus she rang this morning, my dad…um my dad um left again. She so doesn't need this now." She paused again and when he looked like he was going to say something then continued on and in a rush said, "Anyway he doesn't mean to hurt me. He's very sorry afterwards. It's just when.."

"There is no excuse Buffy for what he does to you. I need to know how badly you're hurt."

Her head snapped up and she looked him straight in the eye and said, "I'm fine." But then she couldn't keep up the eye contact and looked down again.

"Buffy, please…. show me." Angel pleaded softly.

"No." She said so quietly he barely heard her, then she took a deep breath and cleared her throat and said. "No Liam. There's nothing to look at. Now if you would just give me my bag I have to go see my mom and then get to class."

"Will you tell your mom?"

"No Liam, there is nothing to tell."

"What about going to a doctor? Just to make sure you are ok?"

"No he'll find out, I can't. Plus I hate doctors and hospitals."

Angel realized by saying 'No he'll find out' she had practically admitted that he had hurt her but he didn't think it would be wise to point this out to her.

"Buffy, either show me or I'm going to go and talk to Parker." He put on his best detective voice to try and show her he was serious without trying to intimidate her, he couldn't think of any other way

Tears welled up instantly in her eyes. No one had ever seen what he did to her. She couldn't show him. Then again if he spoke to Parker then it would be worse. It was bad enough this time. This was the first time he had hit her in the face, usually it was just her body where no-one else would ever see. She used to wear nice clothes but now she had a cover up so people didn't know. Besides her previous clothing had been deemed to provocative, so she had had to make a change.

"Angel. No." She tried pleading with him, "You don't understand if you speak to him he'll know about us. Then he'll….then he'll….Please no." She stopped and took a deep calming breath. There was only one thing to do. "Ok I'll show you if you promise not to say anything to him."

"I promise." Liam said. Not sure he could keep this promise but he needed to know how bad it was. Maybe he wouldn't speak to him just go up and beat the crap out of him. That was not breaking his promise but did it make him any better than Parker.

Buffy started to unbutton her blouse slowly. She slipped it off one arm while she had turned around so her back was facing Angel. Today she had worn her loosest blouse as she couldn't wear a bra. Still holding the front up over here breasts she waited for Angel to say something. She was so nervous she was shaking. Not just because she was black and blue underneath but partly because she was naked in front of Angel.

Part of her wanted him to leave her alone. Just so he wouldn't have to know the mess she had gotten herself into. The other half of her wanted him to kiss her so badly especially after the massage on her leg last night. She got butterflies in her stomach just thinking about what it would be like if he touched her again. She had to keep reminding herself he was only being good to her because he was a decent guy.

Angel gasped when he saw her skin all black and bruised. "Oh Buffy, you need to get away from him. Please baby. Don't let him do this to you anymore." Angel pleaded. He had tears in his eyes upon seeing this small woman so badly hurt. God how could he make her see she needed to get away. He put his arms around her, gently leaning her back into him, kissing her on the head affectionately.

Buffy let herself lean into him. It was nice to be just held like this. Tears slid down her face. Why couldn't she have met Angel and not Parker years ago? She was sure he would be loving and sweet. Maybe he already had a girlfriend. She straightened at the thought. Of course he would. Nice guys like that weren't single. She didn't remember him saying anything about a girlfriend but he never said he didn't have one either. Maybe he was just pitying her, of course that's what he was doing. Her brain was such a jumble that she didn't remember him saying he had feeling for her.

She pushed herself away from Angel and pulled her blouse back on, buttoning it with shaking finger's, she needed to get away from him. If not she may beg him to let her move in with him after all. Angel being the great guy that he was would probably let her but would it be what he really wanted? Besides moving across the hall from Parker didn't really feel that safe except when Angel would be home of course.

Angel reluctantly let her go. Hoping she just needed time to process what they had talked about and that she would listen to him. Although his ultimate dream was for her to move in with him at this point as long as it was away from that guy he didn't care where she choose to live.

"I'd better go."

"Ok here's your bag." He said handing it to her. "I'm here for you Buffy. Don't be afraid to come to me or to call. Anytime. Please."

"Ok bye." She said walking out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Angel didn't see Buffy for nearly a week. He went to the roof-top every night but she never came up. He was starting to get worried. He rang the school and she was showing up to class, so at least that was a good sign.

Finally he ran into her coming home one night. She was just exiting her apartment as he walked into the hall. "Hi Buffy." He said quietly just in case Parker was inside. He'd tried to keep an eye on him at work, but he had seriously had to repress his need to walk over and throttle him.

"Oh um hi Liam." She looked like a scared little kid in her long clothes. She looked at him then back at her door and then back to him again so he guessed that Parker was home.

"How are you?"

"I have to go to the store." She said and walked quickly passed him.

Angel sighed. She was obviously still scared of Parker and who wouldn't be if he kept abusing you. He walked inside. Pulled a frozen dinner out of the freezer but only threw it on the counter.

What the hell was he going to do to help her? He had spoken to a friend who was a counselor, without mentioning any names, he had told him to tread very carefully. Not to push as she could pull away from him. Just to make sure she knows it is safe with him and she can come to him anytime.

He walked to the couch and flopped down on it. Maybe now she had seen him she might come up to the roof tonight. He made up a thermos of coffee and went up to the roof, in the hope she would show.

An hour later he was rewarded when she walked through the door with her book bag. He had been sitting there praying that she would come up. His coffee had gone cold in the cup but he didn't care. He was just so glad to see her. He had to restrain himself from running over to her and holding her tightly.

"Hey Buffy."

"Hi Liam. I thought you might be up here. Sorry about before but he had friends over to watch the game and I forgot to buy the beer and chips. So I had to, you know."

"It's ok Buffy..…. How are you? I haven't seen you all week." She walked over and sat at the small café style table with him. He tipped out the coffee into a planter box and poured them each a hot one from the thermos flask.

"I'm good. I've been spending time with my mom. She's pretty upset about my dad leaving … again."

"So you didn't tell her about.."

"God no Angel. She already had so much on her mind. There's Dawn and her gallery where she works. She's the manager you see but it takes a lot of her time."

"So she's not coping to well?"

"No. The bastard ran off with his secretary again, different one but same scenario. Why are men such pigs?"

He wanted to tell her they weren't. If she was his girlfriend he would treat her like royalty. Since this was about her dad he didn't say anything.

"Thank you for not saying anything to Pa… to him. It would have only made things worse."

"Buffy this can't continue. You don't deserve to be treated like this."

"If I don't upset him it's not so bad." She did want out but how? Every time he got 'upset' with her he warned her if she tried to leave it would be worse. He'd track her down.

"Angel, I'm ok. The main thing on my mind now is getting my mom through this. He's ok with me being there. It's this, me talking to you that would upset him more."

"I have something for you."

"What? Why are you giving me something?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"It's a phone, pre-paid. It has my mobile phone number programmed in to it. Please take it. If you need anything, anything at all or just want to talk, then call me. Anytime of the day or night. My phone is on all the time because of work."

"Angel I don't.."

"Please take it Buffy. It's the smallest I could find. I promise not to ring you on it. It's just for you to ring me or your mom if you need to." He looked her in the eyes, seeing them tear up.

"That's very sweet Angel." She said all chocked up. She took the phone out of his hands and put it in her bag.

"I have to study now." She said to him.

"Ok I'll leave you in peace but please think about it."

"Bye Liam."

He again didn't see her for another week. He hoped she was spending a lot of time with her mom. Family was important. He was very lucky, he had a great family. Thank goodness she had her mom hopefully she would talk to her or maybe move back home.

….

It was Friday afternoon when his phone rang. "Detective O'Connor speaking." He said in to it.

"Angel?"

"Buffy?"

"Angel, you need to come. My mom,..my mom, oh please Angel."

"Where are you Buffy?"

"Mom, (sob) oh mom. (sob)"

"Buffy? Baby I need you to tell me where you are." She gave him the address between sobs. "I'll be there soon."

Angel arrived at the house after breaking most of the cities speed limits. An ambulance was parked out the front of the house. He jumped out of the car and ran inside.

"Buffy?" He called entering the house.

"Angel?" Buffy asked looking up at him. She stood and flew into his arms sobbing.

"Buffy what's going on?" He asked gently.

"My mom, she's….she's dead."

"What? What happened?"

"I don't know." She continued to sob into his chest.

Angel moved them into the lounge where the medics were just packing up their gear. "What happened?" He asked them still holding Buffy.

"Looks like maybe an aneurism. You'll have to wait for the coroners report. They will be here to pick up the body soon."

"Oh" he said.

The medic turned to Buffy on his way out. "Miss it was very quick. There was nothing you could have done. We're very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." Said Angel. Buffy didn't really seem to hear them. He moved her into the dining room away from her mother. "Buffy, where's Dawn?"

"Up..Upstairs. She's still napping. I checked on her. She's….she's ok."

The rest of the day went by in a blur for Buffy. The coroner came and took her mother's body away and they followed to the hospital. Angel had rung his mom to come and look after Dawn while they went to the hospital to make the arrangements. Angel had told his mom all about Buffy, her situation and his feelings for her over a fortnight ago.

Kathleen O'Connor knew her son had fallen hard and fast for the small blonde even before he had told her. She could tell just in the way he talked about her. Her other four children were quite extroverted but Angel had always been different, quieter, reserved. He hadn't had a girlfriend for a while and when he did he never spoke about them the way he did this Buffy.

This small girl was in a bad place at the moment. What with the abusive boyfriend, self-centered father and now without her mother but she knew that Angel could help her if she let him.

When Angel and Buffy got back to the house Kathleen took her leave after handing Dawn over to Buffy. Angel walked her to the door. "Thanks Mom."

"That's alright sweetheart. How's she doing?"

"About as good as can be expected. The next couple of days will be hard, having to organize a funeral and everything."

"Take care of her Angel. Um, has she spoken to Parker?"

Angel face went grim. "I doubt it but I'm not sure. Thanks for coming."

"That's fine. I just wish I had meet Buffy under different circumstances."

"Me too. Bye mom, I love you." He said hugging and kissing her on the cheek.

"I love you too."

Angel didn't bring Parkers name up to Buffy. He took a couple of days off to help her with the funeral arrangements. She stayed at the house and so did he. He slept downstairs on the couch. At the funeral he sat next to her. She held on to Dawn for dear life with one arm and to Angel's hand with the other.

Parker never showed up at the funeral.

When they got home from the funeral they were met by her Dad's lawyer. Buffy hadn't been able to get into contact with her Dad. He was traveling though Spain with the new girlfriend.

"Miss Summers I am very sorry to hear about your mother."

"Thank you." Said Buffy to the lawyer, not really sure why he was here.

"Your father has asked me to drop by and see how you are both doing."

"Oh when is he coming home?" asked Buffy anxiously. As much as she didn't get along with her father she needed him right now. Dawn needed him too.

"Oh I'm sorry Miss but he isn't. He has instructed me to put the house on the market. You have until the house sells to move what you want out of the house. The rest is to be sold along with the house. He has assigned you as custodian to Dawn and you will be given an allowance monthly for costs. He has also instructed us to continue paying your tuition."

""What? But where are Dawn and I supposed to live?"

"Like I said I am sorry Miss Summers but he hasn't asked me to give you any more information than that."

"How come he can ring you and not ring his own daughters?"

"Again I am sorry." He stood and took his leave.

"Oh god!" Was all she could say turning into Angel's embrace.

"It'll be alright Buffy. We'll work it out."

"Can this week get any worse?"

"You were going to use this to leave him weren't you?"

She looked up to him guiltily and said "Yeah."

Angel took a sleeping Dawn off Buffy and sat back on the couch with the little girl in his arms. "You can still leave you know. I have an extra room that you and Dawn can move into."

"Oh Angel that's really sweet of you to offer but you don't need to keep looking after me, us. You've been great this last couple of days and I really don't think I would have been able to cope without you but this is too much. Plus maybe my dad will ring tonight and we can go with him." Buffy stood and started to pace the room.

"And what if he doesn't?" Angel looks up from gazing at Dawn. She (Dawn) had her thumb in her mouth and was curled into Angel's shoulder.

"I'm not sure. I guess I um go back to him."

"Why Buffy? Do you love him? Do you want to bring Dawn up in that sort of environment?"

"Maybe he will be better with her there."

"Buffy you didn't answer my question, do you love him?"

"No," she said letting out a sigh, "I don't love him. He destroyed any feelings I had for him a long time ago but I don't know what he'll do if I move out. He says stuff sometimes about what he will do if I leave." It was still very hard for her to explain the awful situation she was in with Parker.

"Nothing Buffy, he's just all talk."

She walked to the couch and sat down next to him. Angel put his arm around her, pulling her to his chest where snuggled into him with her hand going to Dawn's back and rubbing it. Angel bent and kissed her on the top of the head.

"It'll all be fine baby. I promise I won't let anything happen to you or to Dawn."

"Thank you Angel."

….

The next day they packed the house. Buffy had to pack all her mother's clothing away. She was going to give it all to good will. They would be by later to pick it all up. They went though all her mom's personal items deciding what to keep and what to throw out. When this was done Buffy was emotionally drained so they packed what Dawn needed and moved it over to Angel's apartment.

Buffy had panicked the whole time. What if Parker saw her? What if he did something to her? To Dawn? To Angel?

She had talked to Angel about how to tell Parker and it was decided to not give him more information than was needed. She was going over tonight to tell him. Angel wanted her to make sure that the front door was left open so he could hear everything, just in case.

She was very nervous about seeing Parker again but at 7pm, after she had feed and bathed Dawn and put her to bed for the night, she stood in front of Angel's door. Not capable of opening it and walking across the hall to the apartment where she had lived for the last two years.

She soon felt a warm pair of gentle hands on her shoulders turning her around. "It'll be alright Buffy. I'm right here. All you need to do is call out and I'll come over." Bending he kissed the top of her head affectionately.

"Ok I can do this. He's just a guy and he doesn't run my life anymore." She pulled back from Angel and drew in a steadying breath.

She turned and opened the door. Leaving it open she walked to Parkers door and knocked. Angel pulled the door all but closed just so Parker couldn't see him watching.

"What?" snarled Parker opening the door before he realised it was Buffy. "Bout time you came home."

"Parker we need to talk."

"I don't like your tone Buffy. If you're going to deliberately make me angry I will not be held responsible for teaching you an obviously needed lesson." He growled at her.

Buffy hadn't even entered the apartment and he was already threatening her. "Parker I'm leaving you. I don't love you and you don't love me. Besides I'm sick of being your punching bag when you've had a bad day or you think I've done something when I haven't." Having blurted out the practiced speech she took a step back from him, expecting him to be furious and try and hurt her. Instead he threw his head back and laughed.

"Sure Buffy."

"I'm serious Parker. I've got Dawn to think about now."

"Buffy who's going to want you? You can't even look after yourself, little lone a child. You have no income either. Come on Buffy stop being silly and come inside."

"No Parker. I'll come back when you're at work for my things but it's over between us."

"It'll be over when I say it's over Buffy." He stopped and gave her an evil look. "Moving across the hall with you new boyfriend are you?"

Buffy's head shot up to Parker then around to the door of the apartment she had moved into.

"Didn't think I knew about you and O'Conner did you? You little bitch. I always thought you were worthless and now I know you're a worthless whore." As he said this he stepped forward towards Buffy. At this Angel stepped out into the hallway to stand between Buffy and Parker.

"Back off Abrahams."

"I was wondering where you were O'Conner. You thought I didn't know about you two but guess what I did. I know what's been happening the last couple of days." Leaning around Angel to glare at Buffy, "You've been whoring yourself around bitch."

"Parker, no.."

"What happens between Buffy and I is none of your business Abrahams. From now on there is nothing about her you need to know. Stay away from her."

"Like I'd want the little slut back after she's been with you man. No thank you."

Angel turned back to Buffy, "Let's go." Angel and Buffy went inside their apartment. Buffy was shaking.

"Well…Well he took that well."

"He can't hurt you anymore Buffy. It's over now." She moved straight into his arms sobbing. She couldn't believe she was free from it all.

"Shh, it'll be ok now."

She continued to sob. Pouring out all the hurt she had from Parker, her dad, and her mom. He picked her up and carried her to the sofa. He sat placing her on his lap. Tucking her under his chin he rocked her. Telling her it would all be ok now.

Finally the sobbing stopped and her breathing evened out. He realised she'd cried herself to sleep so he carried her into the room she and Dawn now occupied. He had taken the old single beds from Buffy's mom's and put them in here along with a dresser. He placed her on the bed and pulled a blanket over her.

"Goodnight Buffy. Sleep well my sweet."

…

**AN: Hope you are enjoying this fiction – don't you just love when Angel comes to the rescue…mmmmm.**

**Please leave you reviews even if it is constructive criticism, I'm never going to know what you think otherwise. So please please leave a review. Thanks.**


	8. Chapter 8

Angel wanted to move them out of the building. Maybe a bit further out of the city. Buffy said no. This was his home and she refused to let Parker force them to move. The only way he would agree to this was if she attended a group 'therapy' session at the community center that he knew of. It was for abused women. She was not really keen but relented and agreed to go once and check it out. His second stipulation was to let him teach her self-defense. She again was not impressed. She did not want to learn violence. Angel explained it wasn't violence, it was learning to physically protect her and Dawn if needed. Angel knew using Dawn was a low blow but it worked and she reluctantly agreed.

Next night

"Ready to go Buffy?"

"Yep."

Angel put Dawn in the stroller and they went outside to walk the block to the community center. Buffy was nervous. She hadn't even told Angel a great deal of what had happened with Parker.

As they walked along Buffy started to bite her bottom lip and wring her hands. When they reached the steps to the building, Angel stopped. Turning to her he took her hands in his and looked down at her. "It'll be good, you'll see. Dawn and I will be just down the hall in the play room if you need us, ok?"

"Ok?" They walked inside.

A small dark haired man was standing in a room with about 10 other women. He looked up as they walked into the room and he moved over towards them.

"Hey Angel man. How are you?"

"Well Doyle, thanks. This is Buffy. I told you we might drop in."

The man Angel called Doyle looked at her and smiled. He had a really nice smile. She had expected to see either disgust or pity in his eyes but they were very friendly.

"Hi Buffy, it's nice to meet you. Angel told me a little about you. Come in we are just about to start."

Angel placed a reassuring hand on her arm and reminded her they would be just down the hall.

Buffy sat in a circle with the other women. They all took turns talking about their situation. Some women were still with their boyfriends/husbands. Others like her had got out.

Buffy explained about Parker. She never actually mentioned his name. She felt better. There were tears. It made her realise how lucky she was to have Angel in her life. Some women had no-one. Family didn't want them to leave and made them believe it was their own fault.

Buffy was surprised how easy it was to tell a bunch of strangers intimate details that she couldn't tell her parents or even Angel. With strangers you didn't have to look and see the disappointment or pity. They had all been through similar.

Life moved on for Buffy and Angel. Dawn was getting used to Angel. She had been quite shy at first but now she had warmed to him. He had taken to her instantly. It broke his heart to think she would never know her mom. He was very close to his mother and he couldn't imagine not having that relationship.

Parker had pretty well left them alone. He still sneered at Buffy whenever he saw her but he had made no move to try and hurt her. Angel was right. Now she had moved out he had forgotten about her.

They still had had no word from Buffy and Dawn's dad, Hank. Buffy had rung the lawyer and given him her new numbers but no word yet. She had giving up thinking he would come.

Angel had tried to help Buffy settle in and make his apartment feel like her home as well. He had bought a secondhand desk and put it in the corner so she could do her studies. He wished he had enough money to buy her a computer. Maybe in time.

Christmas time approached.

Buffy was in the middle of cleaning the bathroom. Angel was at work. Dawn was napping so she was doing a quick clean before starting on her study. Finals were only a week away.

Ring, Ring.

"Hello Buffy speaking."

"Buffy, Hi. It's Kathleen O'Connor here. How are you my dear?"

"Oh Mrs O'Connor. I'm very well thank you and yourself?"

"Oh we're well. Shawn has had a bit of a cold but refuses to take it easy. There is so much to do before Christmas."

"I know, I can't believe it is so close."

"Yes well my dear that is why I am ringing. I would like you and Dawn to spend Christmas out here with the O'Connor family."

"Oh Mrs O'Connor.."

"Kathleen please Buffy."

"Oh alright, Kathleen. I'm not sure whether Angel would want that."

"Nonsense my dear. You and young Dawn are very special to my son. The reason I'm ringing you is because Angel probably just assumes you will come with him."

"Oh, um well if you're sure?"

"Yes I am. Now this is the plan…."

Later that night

"Angel your mom called today. She wanted to invite Dawn and I for Christmas."

"But you were coming anyway weren't you?"

"Well no because I didn't know about it."

"I thought I had asked you, sorry Buffy. You will come right?"

"I said yes but that's because I thought she meant dinner but then she explained the whole O'Connor Christmas tradition to me and now I'm not so sure we won't be intruding."

"Trust me Buffy. It's not as bad as it sounds. We all just hang out with the kids really. Dawn'll love it. My nieces and nephews will love her. They are a bit older but they'll love it. Please come." He gave her those soulful sad eyes of his and she found she couldn't refuse him anything.

Christmas Eve

Buffy and Angel packed their bags and some of Dawn's things into Buffy's mom's SUV to head out to the O'Connor's. Buffy had wanted to sell the car so that she could get some money but Angel talked her out of it. He didn't own a car and it was easier with Dawn to have a car than take public transport, so she had decided to keep it.

Shawn and Kathleen O'Connor owned a big house out in the suburbs, with five children they had needed the room.

Apparently each child's room had been converted to now have a queen size bed in each since they had moved out. All except Cordy's as she still techniquely lived at home in the holidays and she had a double bed anyway.

Kathleen had put Dawn and Buffy in Angel's old room and Angel was going to sleep in the study where there was a pull out sofa. Buffy felt bad about kicking Angel out of his room when he had done so much for them anyway but he said he didn't mind.

All the family had arrived. Buffy and Dawn were overwhelmed due to all these people. Everyone was really nice. Buffy was worried that they might think she was mooching off Angel but they were all very sweet and seemed genuinely pleased to met her and Dawn. They had obviously heard all about her from Shawn and Kathleen.

She had been very nervous about meeting them all. Angel was close to all his family. He frequently told her about them and the children. He was godfather to most of them. A job he was very proud to have.

At 11.30pm it was church time. Buffy had never been to church little lone midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Apparently it was Catholic tradition and therefore O'Connor tradition.

Buffy had quiet enjoyed the service. It was a bit like reflection so she took the time and reflected.

Angel's older brother Lorne's wife Fred had stayed home to keep an eye on the children. Angel told her she didn't have to come if she didn't want to but she had wanted to go with him. Now she was glad she had.

When they got home everyone decided to go to bed as the kids would be up early the next morning.

Angel walked Buffy up to his old room to check on Dawn. He had grown very fond of Dawn over the last couple of months and loved the little girl.

As they opened the door the little girl woke and started to cry. Buffy went quickly over and picked her up worried she would wake the household. She cuddled the small sobbing child to her chest. Angel decided to wait till Dawn had calmed and gone back to sleep before leaving Buffy alone. Angel assured her that the rest of the house would not be worried about Dawn crying. They just needed to make sure she was ok.

Angel sat next to Buffy on the bed and rubbed a hand up Dawn's back trying to help calm her. Buffy worried when she still sobbed.

Buffy told Angel that he didn't have to stay, he could go down stairs and go to bed if he wanted. At this Dawn looked up and leaned out her hands and wanted Angel. Angel took the small sobbing girl in his arms, "It's ok little one I'm not going anywhere."

"Looks like you are going to spend the night with us."

"Yep looks like. Why don't you get ready for bed?" Angel said kicking his shoes off stood up and turned the bed down. He hoped in and moved back onto the bed, leaning up against the bed head.

Buffy put her winter pajama's on while Angel closed his eyes. She crawled in beside them. Angel sank down into the bed and placed Dawn between himself and Buffy. They both lay there, Buffy stroking Dawn's hair and Angel rubbing her back. Eventually she went to sleep, as did Angel and Buffy.

Early the next morning Buffy woke up as Dawn was pulling on her pajama top calling her name.

"Wuffy, Wuffy."

Buffy slowly opened her eyes. She felt a warm body pressed up against her back with arms wrapped around her waist. Then she remembered it was Angel. He had stayed up with her last night and somehow in the middle of the night they had changed positions from Dawn being in between them to Dawn and Angel on either side of her.

The feel of Angel spooning her was very nice. She had been worried that after Parker she would not be interested in anyone else touching her intimately. She knew Angel said he had feelings for her but he had been a perfect gentleman since they had moved in with him.

Up until the other night she had been comfortable with it that way. She was attracted to Angel but she was scared to start something. She trusted Angel with her life but could she trust him with her heart? All she knew was that when he had come out of the shower the other night just wrapped in towel she had had very erotic thoughts of him and her naked in bed together.

Shaking off those images now that they actually were in bed together but with Dawn also. "Hello Sweetie." Buffy whispered to her. She looked over at the bedside clock and realised it was still very early. "You had a late night. You should still be sleeping."

"Up Wuffy, Up Wuffy." Little Dawn was saying to her.

"No Dawnie. It's too early. Now go back to sleep or we will wake Angel up."

There was a small knock at the door and then it was quietly opened. Darla stuck her head in taking in the scene. Dawn, Buffy and Angel were in bed together. It looked like Angel was still asleep but Buffy and Dawn were awake. She had heard the small girl crying last night so had come in to see how they were.

"Oh Hi Buffy. Just wanted to check on the little one and see how she was this morning."

"Oh um hi Darla. Yeah she seems fine this morning. We had better get up before we wake up Angel."

"No it's Ok. If Dawn wants she can come downstairs with me. The kids are already up so she will be no trouble and you and Angel can have a sleep in. If that's ok with you."

"Um sure." Turning to Dawn. "Do you want to go downstairs with Darla and play with the other kids?" Dawn's answer was to climb out of bed and run to Darla at the door. "I think that is a yes. Be good Dawnie." Darla closed the door and Buffy snuggled back down into the bed. Angel still had his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Mmm Buffy." Angel mumbled into her hair. He must be dreaming he thought. This was like all the other dreams where he got to wake up pressed against the woman of his dreams – Buffy. He didn't want to open his eyes and realise it wasn't real. His hand moved to her breast. His fingers went straight to her nipple and began massaging it.

Buffy was in shock at first and didn't now what to do but soon started to become extremely aroused by his ministrations. She leaned back into Angel pushing her breast into his hands. She moaned and moved her hand up to cover his, urging him on.

Angel still half asleep began kissing her on the shoulder. His hand moved from her breast that was covered by her top to the buttons were he quickly opened the top two and moved his hand inside her top and reached for her breast again.

Buffy moaned again and reached her hand behind her. She placed her hand on his hip trying to pull him closer to her. She could feel his arousal pressed into her bottom.

At Buffy's moan of pleasure Angel woke up. He realised that this wasn't his dream, it was actually real. He removed his hand from inside her top and moved it to her shoulder to roll her on to her back so he could look into her face.

At Angel's hand's with drawl from her breast she moaned at the loss of his touch. She felt him roll her on to her back. Opening her eyes she looked straight into his deep brown ones she now knew so well but this time they were filled with lust. "Buffy?"

"Angel?" She didn't know why he had stopped but she didn't want him to.

He was worried she would be angry with him for touching her but looking into her eyes he realised she was equally aroused. He decided to go for broke and leaned in and kissed her.

The kiss was soft at first. At the touch of his lips Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him down to her. Letting him know that this was ok with her.

Angel opened his mouth and ran his tongue along Buffy's lips encouraging her to open her mouth. She slowly opened hers allowing him to slide his tongue into her waiting mouth. His tongue reached into her mouth and ran along the edge of hers. Buffy shivered at this but shyly moved her tongue out to duel with his.

They kissed for what seemed like ages. Angel slid his hand back to her top and undid the rest of the buttons and then moved his hand inside to her breast and resumed massaging it. Avoiding the nipple this time.

Buffy squirmed trying to get him to pay more attention to her hard aching nipples. He finally gave in and used his thumb to rub over the pebble hard nipple and he was rewarded with another shiver and a moan from her.

Breaking contact with her lips he moved down to her throat kissing, nipping and sucking it as he went to the base of her neck where he slowed. Sucking the skin into his mouth he continued to rub his fingers over her breast. Knowing he would cause a small mark to appear on her pale flesh.

"Oh god Angel."

Removing his mouth from her neck he moved his head up to look at her. She had her head thrown back and her eyes were closed. "God Buffy, you're so beautiful. I want to keep kissing and touching you. Is this ok?" He held his breath waiting for her to say stop. He wanted to know this was all right with her. Even though she was obviously enjoying this he needed to let her have a chance to say if she wasn't ready.

"Don't stop Angel." She breathed softly to him. That was all the encouragement that he needed.

He dipped his head again and captured her kiss swollen lips with his own and the passion built again just as quickly. He pulled back from her and moved his head down to take her harden nipple into his mouth. Buffy's ragged breath caught in her throat at the touch of his warm mouth on her hardened sensitive nipple.

She pushed her hands into his hair holding him to her breast. Not wanting this exquisite torment to stop.

Angel moved from one nipple to the other. As he did he moved his hand from the side of her breast to lay it on her taut stomach. He slowly moved it in a circular motion while moving lower towards the waistband of her pajamas while still sucking and nipping at her sensitive nipples. Once at the waistband of her pants he slipped his hand inside them and down to the curls that hid her treasures.

Her legs parted to allow him access. He began massaging her mound and then slipped a finger into her folds to find her womanly core. She was already wet with want for him. His finger found her clitoris and began to run his finger around it. Not actually rubbing it or pinching it or squeezing it just teasing at this stage.

Buffy's hands left his hair and moved up to cover her face. This was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced. Sex with Parker had been so different to this. At first he had been gentle as she was a virgin but once she had moved in with him it was all about his satisfaction not hers. She had tried to talk to her mom about it but how do you ask your mother whether what you have felt and experienced was an orgasm or not.

"Angel please." At her breathless begging he moved his finger to rub over her nubbin and she hit the spot and her vaginal walls clenched and she had her first ever orgasm. She realised now that she had never had one with Parker. Everything and anything she had had with him had never been this good.

As she came Angel lifted his head from worshipping her breasts and captured her mouth in a kiss. She moaned and tried to call out his name.

"Shh Baby." As she began to come down from the incredible high of her orgasm he removed his hand and pulled her close to his chest. He realised she was crying.

"Oh god Buffy, what's wrong baby?" He moved her back to look into her face. She tried to cover her face by burying it in his shoulder. "Come on baby tell me what's wrong."

"I can't."

"Buffy if we went further than you wanted I'm sorry. I shouldn't have touched you I'm sorry baby."

"No Angel. It's not you (sob) it's me. It's just that I've never.. I've never.. oh god I can't"

"Yes you can baby just tell me."

"I've never, I've never had a.. had a.. I didn't know it could be like that." She admitted shyly to him.

"What do you mean baby? You had an orgasm, have you never had one before?"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "N..No."

His heart broke again at her admitting that to him. He could just kill Parker. Not that it was a surprise really but obviously he had been more interested in his own release than in pleasuring her. At the same time he was feeling honored that he was the one to help her experience this.

"Buffy, we made love and you had an intense experience but if you want to take things slower then that is ok."

"Don't you want me to.. you know?" How could she say it? They expected it didn't they. Even though he had given her something amazing he still expected her to… She reached her hand out hesitantly towards the waistband of his pants.

"Buffy, no." He took her hand in his and held it up to his chest.

"You don't want me too? Did I do something wrong?"

"No baby. This wasn't about me. This was me wanting to give you pleasure. To love you they way I have wanted to for a long time. For now this is enough."

"Angel this was, this was amazing. I've realised that I want to be with you but taking things slowly would be good."

"Ok baby we can go as slow as you want. You set the pace alright?"

She simply nodded to him.

"Well how bout we get up and go and find out what Santa bought us." He took her hand and they got up and dressed to go downstairs to his family.

They spent the rest of the day with Angel's family, opening presents and playing with the children. Angel's mom cooked a huge traditional Christmas lunch with the help of his sisters. Buffy had offered to help but Kathleen hadn't let her. Told her to go and spend time with Dawn and Angel.

Buffy was over whelmed by Angel's family, she thought they were wonderful. She didn't know that families could be that at ease with each other. For so long it had been her and her mom that she had no idea how to act around such a big family. They joked and tormented each other continuously but it was with love they did not malice. She envied Angel growing up in such a warm loving atmosphere.

They also made her and Dawn feel like part of the family, it nearly made Buffy cry. Part of it was her missing her mom but the other part was her wishing their family had been more like the O'Connor's.

After lunch the adults decided to go for a walk and walk off their over indulgence. Dawn and some of the other younger children had fallen asleep so Angel and Buffy offered to stay behind and watch the children. When they left Angel and her were sitting on the lounge in the sitting room.

Angel leaned over and started kissing her. Buffy had been a bit surprised but it was really nice. Angel pulled her into his lap and continued kissing her. It wasn't as passionate as the kisses they had shared that morning, they were just nice warm kisses. Buffy was a bit worried at first that he wanted more and that his promise to take things slowly that morning were lies but he kept his hands on her hips the whole time.

Time flew and before they knew it the rest of the family came in and caught them making out on the couch. Needless to say this caused some comical comments from the family but Kathleen soon put a stop it when she realised Buffy was getting embarrassed.

Kathleen was happy that her son and Buffy has obviously started a relationship. She really liked the young girl who had been through so much and hoped that they could both find some happiness with each other.

They spent the night at the O'Connor's and went home the next day. Dawn hadn't gotten upset again so Angel spent the night in the study on the fold out couch. Buffy missed waking up in his arms and hoped that one day she could do it again and not be afraid. She had been tempted to ask him to stay the night but he explained that his parents might not be happy.

New Years Eve

Angel was to get home at 7pm. Buffy had bathed and fed Dawn and put the little girl to sleep. She had spent the whole week thinking about Angel. They had made out on the couch every night after dinner. Buffy hadn't had to study too much due to the holidays so they could spend time together at night. Buffy had been thinking about her and Angel and Christmas Morning. Every time she thought about the way Angel had touched her, his hands and lips on her breast, stomach and most private spot, she got extremely wet. She had asked him to go slow and he had been a perfect gentleman. Each night they either ended up lying on the couch kissing or her sitting in his lap but not one of those times had his hands strayed anywhere that might have made her uncomfortable. She had begun to relax and really enjoy their time together.

Thinking about it again today and seeing it was New Years Eve she had decided tonight was the night. Start the year the way she wanted to spend the rest of her life – with Angel. She had cooked them dinner, pasta and salad, can be eaten now or later.

Angel arrived home at 7.30pm. He had gotten caught up with some last minute paperwork but now he was done. He had two days off and he planned on spending them with Buffy and Dawnie before Buffy was due back at school.

He walked in the house and put his keys, gun and badge away in the locked cupboard they had. He could smell dinner and it smelt great. His diet had greatly improved since his girls had moved in. Buffy was a good cook.

Buffy was standing in the kitchen in a short baby blue dress. Her hair was up and she looked beautiful. The apartment was homely and warm. He remembered back to only a few months ago when he would come home to a cold empty apartment. It was really only a short while ago but felt like a lifetime ago. He was so happy to have Buffy and Dawn in his life.

He and Buffy were a couple now. They hadn't moved on to a sexual relationship but he had no problem with that. Not that he didn't want to make love to Buffy and show her how a man could treat a woman with love and tenderness but he was letting her set the pace and he was just fine with that. It was obvious from the other morning at his parents house that she had rarely if ever been treated by men with kindness and tenderness.

Buffy turned and smiled when she saw him walk into the kitchen. He stopped and just stood to admire this amazing woman who had come into his life and made it so much better. Made his apartment a home. Made him excited to come home everyday. Made his heart beat fast when he was around her. Made him forget he needed to breathe when he had kissed her.

"Hey." She said wiping her hands on a tea towel.

"Hi Honey." She walked over to him and stood just in front of him. Only a couple of inches separating them. She looked up into his face and placed her hand on his cheek. She stood up on her toes and kissed him. It was a long sensual kiss. His arms wrapped around her holding her to him. Their tongues met and sparks were felt by both of them.

Pulling back once the need for air was too much for them, he looked into her sparkling green eyes. "Well that is the best welcome home I have ever had."

"Well it is going to get better." She said stepping away from him and winking. Over the last couple of months her self-confidence had started to grow. The process was slow but apparent. Being away from Parker, having Dawn to look after and also having Angel as a friend she had begun to believe she had worth.

"Well that is something to look forward to." He said with a grin. Not sure what she was up to but enjoying the anticipation.

"Why don't you go and have a shower and when you are finished then we can sit and have a drink?"

"Sure. Back soon." As he went to walk out of the kitchen he leaned over and kissed the top of her head affectionately.

Not too much later he came out of the bathroom. He had on well worn blue jeans and a T-shirt on and his hair was still wet. Buffy was sitting on the sofa waiting for him. She looked him up and down, drinking in the site of the handsomest man she had ever seen. Without realizing it she licked her lips.

Angel saw the slow inspection she did of him and then the moistening of the lips, it made him want to pull her towards him and ravish those beautiful lips with his own. He took a deep breath trying to calm his body down. He was still wary of her noticing his body's reaction to her incase it scared her. He wanted her to be comfortable in her own home.

Buffy's mind went blank. She had had this whole speech prepared but couldn't remember a word of it.

Angel sat down on the sofa beside her and pulled her into his arms, his mouth decending onto hers. Kissing her softly Buffy moaned and moved further into his embrace, kissing him back.


	9. Chapter 9

Buffy sat on the lounge waiting for Angel to get out of the shower. She had straightened the whole apartment before he had gotten home so now there was nothing to do. She was not trying not to fidget from nerves while wondering could she really say her little prepared speech to him? Would he want the same thing? Was she reading too much into their 'christmas' incident? A smile crossed her face and she squirmed in her seat at the memory of Angel kissing her and touching her. It had been amazing. She had never experience anything like that before.

She had hated having sex with Parker and had just assumed that that is how it is supposed to be. But the way that Angel had touched her, well that was just, well it was, OMG it was amazing and it was definitely something she would like to do again.

She trusted Angel more than anyone in the world. There is no way he would turn on her or ever treat her the way that Parker had.

Angel never expected her to do anything for him. Parker had expected a lot form her such as the apartment was to be spotless all the time, dinner on the table whenever 'he' wanted it, all his washing done, for her to run to the shops for him whenever he wanted something mostly beer.

Angel was so different. He never expected these things form her. He always cooked on his days off, he helped wash up every night and he even pitched in the house cleaning on the weekends. He even cleaned the toilet.

They always went down to the laundry room together to do their washing. She knew some of this was him not wanting her down there alone with Parker still in the same building. Not that he had tried anything major. He 'accidently' bumped into her in the hallway a few times but nothing extremely threatening but this seemed to make Angel even more nervous. Angel didn't want her in a situation such as a basement/laundry room where there was no-one to help her if she called out, just in case.

Angel came out of the shower wearing jeans that sat low on his hips and he was pulling a sweater over his head. God he was handsome. She got butterflies in her tummy just looking at him and a strange feeling further down.

"Hey" he said sitting next to her on the couch.

"Hi" she said a little shyly then looked away from him to the hands in her lap.

"Hey you ok?" Angel asked while reaching our and softly tilting her chin back up to look at him.

"Um.. yeah…it's just," She swallowed as her mouth felt so dry, "It's just that I have been doing a lot of thinking and wanted to talk to you."

Angel's hands dropped to his lap and his jaw set hard. He just knew she was going to tell him that she wasn't interested in him anymore, could he bear to lose her? No. Her mood was different from when he got home. She wouldn't have kissed him like she did when he entered the apartment if that was true. Surely. "What did you want to talk about?" He asked hesitantly.

"Us." She replied after a lengthy pause.

"Us?" He had so enjoyed this week. They had progressed from good friends to 'kissing' friends. He hadn't even taken her on a date yet. He had been hoping after the New Year that his mom might come into the city for an evening and watch Dawn so he could take her out. Maybe dinner and walk along the beach. That was the great thing with living in California, while the temperature dropped in winter it was rarely freezing and had never snowed. Now he knew he shouldn't have waited. She was probably thinking he was a not much of a gentleman if he didn't even ask her out.

"Doyle dropped by today and we had a long discussion. I told him about us and he pointed out a few truths to me."

"I'll kill him." Angel mumbled

"No Angel he was right it is not fair to start a relationship with you when…"

Angel cut her off despondently while focusing intently on the blank space above the TV. "Buffy it's ok." Thinking she meant to stop their 'relationship' just as it began.

"No Angel it's not. I don't want him to touch or taint any part of my new life and Doyle was right the only way we can move forward is for me to tell you all about me and well me and Parker. Then you can decide with that information wether this, us, is what you really want."

"Um..Ok"

"Ok well I um met Parker when I was only just 16. I had never had a boyfriend before. Guys didn't seem to notice me much and then all of a sudden there he was. I met him at a party and he was really sweet and he seemed so mature and he actually seemed to like me. He made me feel like a normal girl when I was with him.

Things were bad at home with my dad being back in our lives and then mom finding out she was pregnant and Dad deciding to jump right back into a parental role of telling me what I could and could not do. So I rebelled and started sneaking out to see Parker.

While things got better with Parker they went downhill at home. We didn't talk just yelled at each other. Eventually when I was nearly 17 I left and moved in with Parker. He loved it of course. I was so eager to please him. Up till then we hadn't gotten past kissing but once I was living with him them things progressed quickly.

At first it was normal you know. Then he hit me for the first time. I can't even remember why know but it had to do with something I wanted to wear I think. Of course he was very apologetic afterwards but he knew I was only 17 and had only two options. Stay with him or go back to my dad's, so I stayed. Slowly it got worse. I realised who he really was but I couldn't see a way out.

Dad actually began to like him. As I was more and more subdued he thought that was a good thing. He even agreed to pay for College which was a big surprise. Eventually Parker even stopped apologising when he hit me but instead he would threaten that if I told anyone he would kill my mom. He was a cop and so he said he could make it look like an accident and no-one would ever even suspect him.

I used to dream of leaving him but nowhere in that scenario did it ever involve another man or another relationship. There was nothing I could do and no-one I could turn to for help until you came along. You made me realise that my life still had a future that didn't have to include Parker. You gave me the courage to leave. Your friendship means the world to me."

"So you want to…um…stay friends?' He asked hesitantly

"Angel I wouldn't know what to do without your friendship, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardise that, but well I really like the kissing part to."

A big smile showed the relief on his face and he told her quietly "me too."

"You need to decide if this is what you want Angel, a girl who has a baby to look after and a lot of emotional baggage." She stopped and took a deep breathe. The next part was even more embarrassing but she had to tell him the truth. After everything he had done for her he deserved that. "I'm not..well you see I'm not good at sex and I have never really enjoyed it. Parker well at first it hurt a lot but he said that was normal but would go away but it really didn't after a while he stopped asking and just well he just did it when he wanted to. I found out early that if I just lay there, the less I struggled the quicker and less painful it was. Sex isn't something I've ever enjoyed. If we are going to have a relationship then I realise it will involve sex. I like the way you touch me. It is different to him and I know you are nothing like him. I think the only way for you to really know if this is what you want is to have sex with me and if you like it then we can move ahead and if you don't then we, well we don't. I know I can learn things to please you so please take that into consideration. So Angel will you, will you please have sex with me?"

"No Buffy."


	10. Chapter 10

"So Angel will you, will you please have sex with me?"

"No Buffy."

Buffy looked shocked and then embarrassed and didn't know what to do. Oh god how could she have mistaken his intentions. She felt like such a fool. She just opened up and told him her darkest secrets thinking he wanted to have a relationship with her too.

"Buffy look at me" he asked her softly.

"No Angel I am sorry I, sorry I thought the wrong thing obviously, I'll just.."

"No Buffy look at me please. Baby, please."

She slowly turned and looked up into his eyes.

"Buffy I am not going to have sex with you. Sex is what two people who have no feeling for each other have. There is nothing wrong with just having sex as long as both people involved understand that that is all it is. You and I are not going to have just sex. What I will do, what I would love to do, is make love to you. To show you how it can be when a man treats a woman with all the respect and love she deserves."

"Oh um really, so it's not that you don't want me?"

"God no baby I want you so bad but you need to understand that what we are about to share is nothing like what you had with Parker."

"Oh Angel I didn't mean for you to think that I think that you are like Parker it's just that well I don't really know what else it is like."

"Tell me Buffy did you like what happened between us at my parents that morning?"

"Oh yes Angel. I have never felt anything like that before. It was very nice." She told him feeling rather embarrassed to say it out aloud but realising if they were to move forward they needed to be honest with each other.

"Was it just nice baby or maybe better than that." He asked her with a smile knowing full well that she had enjoyed herself that morning as she had experienced her first orgasm. Tonight he wanted her to experience that again, hopefully a few times.

"Oh," she told him with a slight smile on her face. "Definitely better."

"Come here baby." He asked her indicating for her to move into his lap. Taking her hand in his he pulled her up so that she could slide onto his lap.

He moved both his hands to frame her face and lent in and kissed her on the mouth. Very slowly but encouraging her to open her mouth for him. She responded the way she had over the last few days. He moved her hands up so that they circled his neck and encouraged her to move closer to him. He wanted to take things nice and slow so that he showed her how good it can be but at the same time he wanted her to realise how much he wanted her. He continued to kiss her trying to show her all the love that he had for her.

He moved his hands. One went to her hip and the other to her outer thigh and slowly started moving his hand in circles while moving her dress up so that he could feel her skin. God he was getting harder just thinking about all the things that he wanted to do to her, show her.

Moving his mouth off hers and starting to trail it down her throat taking turns kissing and sucking on the slim column. "Baby maybe we should move this to the bedroom in case Dawn comes out."

Looking into his face with a flushed and dazed look she said "Huh?"

He gave a low chuckle. "I said we should move this to my bedroom in case we wake up Dawnie."

"Oh, oh yeah."

He placed his hands on her waist again and helped her up. He stood and swept her into his arms and carried a giggling, smiling Buffy into his bedroom. Placing her gently on his bed he looked down at her giving her his best sexy smile. She was so beautiful he really didn't want to ruin this. Removing his shirt he was glad to see that her gaze was trained on his chest then trailing down further to see his aroused body. "Are you sure about this baby I don't want to rush you. I can wait for you for as long as you need."

"I'm sure Angel. Show me what it's like when two people love each other."

Lying down on the bed gently next to her he pulled her into his arms and began kissing her again. He was propped on his side half leaning over her, rolling her so that he could reach a hand around behind her, he moved his hands to the zip in the back of her dress and ever so slowly pulled it down. He stopped kissing her and just looked down into her flushed face. "God Buffy you are so beautiful. I want you to know how much I love you." He moved his hand up to slowly slide the shoulder of her dress down one side.

He moved his head down and placed kisses along her shoulder and down her arm as he pulled her dress further down her arm. He placed kisses along her shoulder and arm and moved back up to her collarbone and then up to her neck. He licked and sucked along her neck again. He pulled some of her delicate skin into his mouth along her neck and sucked it gently but knowing he would leave a mark.

Buffy let out a moan and moved her body trying to get him closer. What he was doing felt so go and her body was reacting the same what it did at Christmas. She could feel her panties getting wet and understood she was actually getting aroused by this ministrations. She was running her hand up and down his shoulders feeling his muscles moving and enjoying the feel of his body.

Letting the skin go he placed light kisses over the mark. He leaned back and looking down at her he pulled her dress off both her shoulders and down to her waist revealing her bra clad upper body. He sucked his breath in when he looked at her. He breasts were perfect. He leaned forward and placed kisses along the top of her breasts and moving down to her lace covered nipples. Her nipples were hard and he could see the rose hue of them through her white bra. He sucked first one nipple into his mouth.

Buffy's back arched off the bed when he sucked on her nipple. Her nipples were so hard they nearly hurt but when he sucked it into his mouth the feel of the wetness and the pressure was nearly too much for her. There was a tension that started at her breasts and worked its way through her whole body. When he let go of one thoroughly ravished nipple and moved to the other she didn't know that it could be this good. In all the times she had been with Parker he had never made love to her like this and in the few minutes they had been in here Buffy knew that it would be an experience that she would never forget and never be able to repay him for.

She was so wrapped up in the feeling he was creating in her body she didn't even realise that he had removed her bra until she felt a wave of his breath over her now nude chest. She opened her eyes and noticed he was just looking at her. Suddenly she felt self-conscious and started to move her hands over her breasts to cover them.

Angel noticed she was trying to cover up and he gently grabbed her hand to stop her. "No baby don't cover up, I want to look at you, take in this whole moment and remember every outline of your body, ever moan from your lips and know that it is me that you are responding too."

She looked into those deep chocolate eyes and knew he was telling her the truth. She watched as he bent his head and began lavishing her bare nipples alternating between kisses and sucking the hardened tips. Again another wave of tension passed through her body.

Moving to the valley between her breasts he worked his way down to her waist and swirled his tongue in and around her belly button. Sitting up on his knees next to her he slowly moved her dress down her legs and off her feet and through it on the floor. Looking back she was laying there with her eyes half shut, lids heave with passion and watching him. He looked into them to make sure she was still enjoying this and not too nervous and what he saw there was all the love she had for him.

He shifted to move in between her thighs and moved his hands to either side of her waist and moved them up and down inching lower slowly to the edge of her matching panties. He slowly slide his fingers into the side of them and started to moved further back on the bed and pull them all the way off. Once he had her panties off, he couldn't take his eyes of her while he stood and dropped his jeans. He wasn't wearing any boxers or briefs and he noticed that she was now staring at his very pronounced and aroused flesh. Her eyes widened when she comprehended the size of his engorged cock.

Crawling back up the bed to settle in between her thighs again, he in revelled in the feel of her naked body against his. It was a glorious feeling. She was so soft and smooth. He leaned forward and kissed her rekindling the passion that they had just minutes before.

Buffy was surprised to say the least at the size of his arousal and could now feel it presses into her thigh. A shudder ran though her at the sheer size of it and wondered how it would fit.

Angel felt the shudder go through her body and stopped kissing her to ask, "You ok baby?"

"Yeah it's just that, um, well, um you are, you are very big. What if, what if it doesn't fit?" She asked shyly

A low husky chuckle erupted from Angel as he realised that Parker was obviously not as well-endowed as he was. He framed her face with his hands and spoke slowly, "Buffy we are going to go slowly and I will make sure your body is ready so that it will not hurt. I would never do anything to hurt you, I love you." Understanding that when she had sex with Parker he may not have even waited or even tried for that matter to get her body into a natural aroused and lubricated state before he entered her and this would have hurt her and seeing that he was so much bigger than Parker she would be worried this would be the same case.

"I know. I love you too."

"Do you trust me?"

"With my life." She said seriously.

He bent forward and kissed her again, first on her lips and then worked his way slowly down to her nest of curls. Moving to get a comfortable position he gently moved her legs apart further and moved his finger to rub up and down her outer lips and could feel her wetness there already. Slowly he moved in further and found her clit which was well lubricated and began to alternate between rubbing it and circling it. He knew that women got more aroused the longer you teased their tender flesh.

Buffy's head was pushed back into the pillows and her hands were clenching the sheets. What Angel was doing to her felt sooooo good. That tension she was feeling before was building again and she couldn't help but move her hips to try and get him to keep rubbing her clit. He took the hint and rubber her where she wanted it most and then watched as her body enjoyed her second ever orgasm.

"Oh god Angel," pant "That was," pant "That was," pant "Um…wow"

He leaned up to watch her come down from her high. He felt so proud to have given her this and didn't intend to stop.

"You like that baby?"

"Oh yeah"

"Well it's just the beginning." He used his fingers it spreader her wet outer lips and moved his mouth in to lick and suck the cum flowing from her. He heard her wimper and knew that her flesh was over sensitised and it wouldn't take much to make her cum again. He moved his mouth to her clit while he moved one finger inside of her warm, wet centre. Matching the rhythm of his tongue which was slow and teasing he moved his finger in and out of her getting her body used to the action. Not wanting her to cum again yet he swirled his tongue around her bundle of nerves while he added a second finger.

She was right when she said he was large and he was truthful when he said he wouldn't hurt her but if he didn't stretch her tight body it would hurt her. He continued teasing her and eventually added a third finger and started to pump them into her at a faster pace. He could hear her breathing fasten and knew she was getting close again. He sucked on her flesh just as she reached down unconsciously and thread her fingers into his hair pushing him further into her. Next he felt her body tighten and heard her moan loudly as she came again.

He rubbed her thighs as she came down from her incredible high. He discretely wiped his face on the sheets not wanting her to see his face covered in her cum. While he loved the taste of her he didn't want her to be embarrassed as he knew a lot of women where at the sight.

He moved up her body kissing her in places as he watched her breasts heave for air as she slowly recovered. He ended his trail by leaning over her but not putting any of his weight on her and kisses her very softly. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him lost, for words on how describe how wonderful that was.

"You ready for more baby?"

"More?" She asked huskily and he hardened at the sound.

"Oh yeah baby there is more and it will be just as good if not better." He smiled that sexy half smile and she leaned up to kiss him not knowing any other way to show him she was ready.

He leaned into the kiss and moved his hand back to her breast gently pinching and rolling the nipple between his fingers. Eventually she started rubbing against him wanting more but not really sure what.

"Easy baby we are going slow remember?"

She was acting on instinct and he loved it. Moving her mouth to his neck she began slowly to mimic the way he had kissed and sucked on her neck hoping he was enjoying it as much as she did.

Angel moved his head back arching his neck into her mouth and letting her explore him and giving her some of the control. He knew from talking to Doyle that she had to have control to ensure that she understood that this was a different situation to what she had experienced before. While he wanted her to have the control she was driving him crazy, the way her little hands moved over his shoulders and down his back lightly scaping her fingernails over his skin. The combination of the nails and her wet mouth was pushing his control to the edge. Much more of this and he would embarrass himself by coming before he was even insider her.

"Baby that feels so good but if you don't stop I am going to come all over your belly."

"Oh I'm, I'm sorry." Lowing her lids and looking away from him slightly embarrassed.

He moved his hand up to cup her face so she was looking at him. "Baby don't apologise I loved the way you were touching me and kissing me but I want to be inside you when I cum."

"Oh," The way the word slipped from her lips that were slightly turned up in a smile made him realise she understood what he meant.

He placed his hand on her hip and rubbed it to calm her and him. "Are you ready? I'm going to make love to you now. I will go slowly as you are very tight and I want so your body to adjust to my size slowly so it won't hurt ok? If it hurts or you want to stop let me know ok?" Not being able to talk due to his tender care she just nodded her in agreement.

Looking down at his turgid length he grasped the base and rubbed it up and down in her wetness to ensure he was well lubricated. Positioning the head at her opening he slowly pushed inside of her. A little at a time and then stopping, God she felt so tight and warm his eyes were nearly rolling back in his head a the delicious feel of her around him but he wanted to keep eye contact with her so that he would be able to tell if it hurt too much or if she changed her mind.

Buffy held her breath waiting for it to hurt like usual but while she could feel him stretching her it was slow enough that her body adjusted without any pain and before she knew it he was fully seated inside her. After a minute he realised he wasn't hurting her when he saw her release her breath and smile at him.

"You ok?"

"Yeah it didn't hurt at all."

"God baby I wouldn't hurt you, you know that right?"

"I do."

He lent down and kissed her again and then moved his mouth from her lips to her cheeks then to her jaw and down to her neck.

"Mmmmm."

He slowly pulled out of her and moved back in, starting a personal rhythm that was all their own. He began to move faster and faster until they were both nearly at the brink. Their mingled breaths were ragged and he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. He moved his hand back to where they were joined and rubbed her clit again. She was so sensitised from his earlier attention that it wasn't long before he felt her sheath tighten around him just as he let go and came so did she.

He collapsed on top of her and she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He heard her breath hitch and moved to look at her while taking his weight off of her. Tears were running down her face and he was worried he had hurt her. He went to pull out of her but she wrapped her legs around his hips and held on tight. "Baby what's wrong? Did I hurt you? God I am so sorry." He leaned on one elbow and used the other hand to wipe away her tears.

"No Angel," half panting half hiccupping "you could never hurt me."

"Then what's wrong sweetheart?" He asked tenderly

"That was, that was," she stopped and drew in a ragged breath, "That was so, that was, well …. I didn't know it could be like that."

Angel leaned down and kissed her tears away. His heart broke to think that she had never had anyone show her so much love and tenderness but he vowed to change that. Pulling her legs from around him and then pulling out of her he moved to the side and wrapped his arms around her body pulling her in close so that her head rested on his chest. Tilting her head up to look at him, "Buffy, thank you for letting me show you what it is like to make love to the woman that you love and adore. I promise to spend the rest of my life showing how wonderful and beautiful you are and I will spend hours worshiping your body with my mine to show you the depth of my love for you. You and Dawn are my family and I will love and take care of you always."

"Oh Angel I should thank you for showing me that there is such a thing as love and that making love to someone is so amazing. I love you too." She moved her hand up to cup his face and placed a small kiss on his lips. Snuggling into his embrace she realised that finally her life had changed, her attitude had changed and she actually had a wonderful future in front of her. While there was a slight feeling of apprehension that it might be all a dream but she was going to ignore that and bask in the warmth that Angel created in her. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

As did Angel.

Please Please Please send me some feedback, I need to know if there is anyone reading this and if so what do you think. Please feed me with your thought – constructive criticism welcome


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